Pinhas and Masami“Merzbow” Akita crossed sonic swords most recently on Pinhas's 2010 Cuneiform release Metal/Crystal, but the particular blend of sensual derangement and delight their two-man musical conspiracy creates simply demanded another full-fledged duo recording. So when the pair headlined at Washington, D.C.’s prestigious Sonic Circuits Festival at La Maison Francaise on September 24, 2010, capturing their improvisations in all their senses-shattering glory seemed like an obvious choice. Rhizome is the product of that recording, an album that swoops, shimmers, rattles, and roars, as Pinhas employs his guitar and loop system to dive over, under, and sometimes even through the post-industrial laptop machinations of Merzbow, whose lofty tower of sound transcends the conventional tonal vocabulary.

The first pressing of Rhizome also includes a large number of bonusesnot available after the initial pressing and all included at regular single-CD pricing!: a bonus DVD of a generous excerpt of the duo's performance at the 2010 Sonic Circuits festival as well as a download coupon for their performance in Paris, November 12, 2008 (the audio from the Paris 2008 LP).

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Paris 2008 was recorded at Les Instants Chavirés in Paris on November 12, 2008. Even though they had only worked together for a very short time the year before, the duo had already established a recognizable sound with Richard's metronic and spacey guitar figures being worked over by Merzbow's electronic mayhem in a glorious, psychedelic death spiral.

It is a vinyl-only release; the first vinyl released by Cuneiform in over 20 years! There are only 500 copies made and there will not be a repress; this lp edition is the only way to buy this in a physical format. The lp comes with a digital download card for the music, and if you buy it from Cuneiform, your copy will be on beautiful blue vinyl.

Richard Pinhas is recognized as one of France’s major experimental musicians. A composer, guitarist and electronics innovator, he is a key figure in the international development of electronic rock music. During the 1970s, his stature in France was analogous to Tangerine Dream's in Germany: the father figure of an entire musical movement. His band Heldon fused electronics, “diabolical guitar work” and rock to create a pioneering, aggressive music that was a precursor to the industrial music and techno to come. Pinhas released 7 groundbreaking, critically-acclaimed albums with Heldon during the 70s, and has released a steady stream of solo projects to the present day. Ceaselessly innovative, Pinhas' later solo guitar and electronics "Metatronics" system expanded the limits of Robert Fripps' Frippertonics.All of Pinhas solo projects and Heldon recordings are reissued and/or released on Cuneiform, which has worked with Pinhas since 1991. Heldon’s music remains vital and unsurpassed today, evident in its worldwide revival among a younger generation. New electronic and digital artists and DJs are emulating Pinhas' early work and incorporating it into their own. Heldon tracks have been sampled in recent years by UNKLE (Never, Never, Land, Island, 2003) and legendary electronic artist Bill Laswell (for a CD with Peter Namlook) and have been included in a DJ compilation by Four Tet (DJ-Kicks, !K7, 2006). In recent years, Pinhas has begun recording and performing with some of the most prominent artists on the international noise scene. The Cuneiform label has released all of his recordings with Merzbow, and one with contirubutions by Wolf Eyes. In 2010, he and Merzbow performed at the 10th anniversary of the Sonic Circuits Festival, Washington DC's premiere festival of experimental music. In addition to his musical career, Pinhas–who has a PhD in philosophy from the Sorbonne–runs webdeleuze and has written/edited several books on the late French philospher Gilles Deleuze, his friend and former mentor.

Cuneiform Records is honored to have released and/or reissued the complete RICHARD PINHAS and
HELDON catalogs as well as collaborative PINHAS/MERZBOW albums.
For more information on any of these titles and more, click on any cover below:

On the eve of what some predict as The Rapture, sonic titans Richard Pinhas, Merzbow & Wolf Eyes storm FIMAV's international stage for a spectacular concert.

A grand, world premiere event: the first on-stage meeting between USA noise band Wolf Eyes (Mike Connelly, John Olson, and Nathan Young), the uncontested king of Japanoise Merzbow (Masami Akita), and the French pope of guitar textures Richard Pinhas (Heldon). A meeting dreamt up by Pinhas on his album Metal/Crystal (released by Cuneiform), now happening in the flesh thanks to FIMAV!

Tickets for single show are $32 (unless festival passport is purchased) for more ticket information visit FIMAV's ticketing page

Don't miss this rare opportunity to witness leaders of the electronic / noise scenes from three different continents converge onstage to perform LIVE!!!

Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (commonly known as FIMAV) is the premiere festival of avant-garde/ experimental music in North America, and one of the most respected music festivals in the world. Now in its 27th year, FIMAV assembles leading figures in experimental, avant jazz, improv, electro music and sound art from around the world for performances in Victoriaville, a town near Montreal and Quebec City. Besides Pinhas/Merzbow/Wolf Eyes, other performers at this year's FIMAV's (May19-22, 2011) include Anthony Braxton, Peter Brötzmann, The Ex, Nels Cline, Zeena Parkins and many, many more.

For more information on pricing, hotels, and payment options, visit the FIMAV official tour site

When a French prog-rock guitar hero and a Japanese god of noise join together for a freewheeling, no-holds-barred bout of spontaneous sonic sorcery, the results of what might initially have seemed like an odd-couple pairing end up exploding any and all preconceptions about either party. Both active since the 1970s, Richard Pinhas and Merzbow are two of the most uncompromising artists on the planet, having remained innovators and iconoclasts throughout their careers. Merzbow is widely recognized as "...the most important artist in noise music" [All Music Guide]. Richard Pinhas, formerly the driving force behind ‘70s electronic rock renegades Heldon, is one of France’s most influential experimental musicians.

The two electronic adventurers met for the first time in a Tokyo studio in 2007, working together to create Keio Line (released in 2008 on Cuneiform). The fiery creative frisson between the two insured further collaborations, despite the 6,000 miles separating their homes. Pinhas and Masami “Merzbow” Akita crossed sonic swords most recently on Pinhas's 2010 Cuneiform release Metal/Crystal, but the particular blend of sensual derangement and delight their two-man musical conspiracy creates simply demanded another full-fledged duo recording. The 2010 Sonic Circuits Festival in Washington, D.C. was the largest experimental music festival ever held in the nation’s capital, and when the pair appeared as one of the festival’s headliners, capturing their performance at the French Embassy’s La Maison Française in all its senses-shattering glory seemed like an obvious choice. Rhizome is the product of that recording, a live album that swoops, shimmers, rattles, and roars, as Pinhas employs his guitar and loop system to dive over, under, and sometimes even through the post-industrial laptop machinations of Merzbow, whose lofty tower of sound transcends the conventional tonal vocabulary. Pinhas has been perfecting his Robert Fripp-influenced six-string sea of sustain and delay since his days helming Heldon, and when his aggressive-but-aqueous sound meshes with Merzbow’s carefully crafted cacophony, the two have a transformative effect on each other. Merzbow brings out the most visceral elements of Pinhas’s approach, and Pinhas bathes Merzbow’s daring dissonance in a more melodic, (relatively) accessible stream of sound.

A unique aspect of Rhizome is that, in addition to a bonus DVD featuring footage from the concert, the CD’s first pressing will contain a download code for Cuneiform’s third Pinhas/Merzbow release, Paris 2008, which captures Pinhas and Merzbow in full flight at Les Instants Chavires in Montreuil, Paris on November 12, 2008. [Note: promo copies of Rhizome don’t include the Paris 2008 download code. Email Cuneiform to receive the code.] If Fripp & Eno’s groundbreaking ‘70s recordings were somehow sonically weaponized into some form of ambient-cum-industrial “smart bomb,” it might sound something like Paris 2008’s three lengthy tracks, or perhaps if an avant-garde composer had been on hand for the first splitting of the atom, his musical evocation of the event might bear some resemblance to these trenchant aural explorations. On it’s own, Paris 2008 will also be Cuneiform’s first vinyl-only release in over 20 years, and subsequent pressings of Rhizome will include only the 2010 concert recording, sans the aforementioned bonus DVD and download. Right around the time of Rhizome’s release, Pinhas and Merzbow -- who both continue to maintain active touring schedules on their own -- will be appearing together at the 27thFestival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Canada, as well as performing additional dates in the USA.

“This is the sound of rebellion, of chaos and trashed beauty all rolled into one as a new genesis, forming a new aesthetic from the ruins.” All Music Guide

"When this music…gathers density and volume, the effect is more ecstatic than harrowing, possessing an epic majesty that one might not immediately associate with Merzbow." Pitchfork

“An album of ambient soundscapes that prove noise can indeed be beautiful, and that it’s possible to dispense with conventional constructs of rhythm, melody and harmony yet still create something both musical and profound.” All About Jazz